The calf can take up to 18 months to be born, but smaller species of rhino can develop in as few as 12 months. The mother gives birth to a single calf, which will stay attached to the mother for up to three years.
Weaning generally occurs after a year, when the calf begins grazing or browsing for itself. After the weaning year, the calf travels with its mother for protection purposes, as while the rhino has no natural predators because of its immense size, many creatures will attack young unprotected rhinos.
The mother drives off its calf after about three years, or when the female can find another mate. Most females can mate once every three or four years. White Rhino with two weeks calf. Some rhinos may even travel in groups as large as fifteen members. It is speculated that these groups form in areas with rich food supplies, and large predators, and are used for safety purposes.
In captivity, the young calf will be removed from its mother after weaning, to stimulate the need to mate in the female. Weaning of offspring typically occurs after 18 months, but offspring remain dependent for up to 4 years. Females achieve sexual maturity at age 5 to 7 years; males reach maturity between 7 and 8 years. Brooks, ; Dollinger and Geser, ; Garnier, et al. For the first week after birth the offspring is hidden by the mother. After that, the mother and calf use specific vocalizations to find one another: the mother pants and the calf squeals.
Black rhino mothers are very protective of their calves, which is why calves walk behind their mothers. This differs from white rhino females, who have their young walk in front of them. Calves are able to browse on their own after one month and able to drink water after 4 to 5 months.
The basic social unit for females is typically a female and her young offspring, until the offspring is forced into independence by a sibling.
Typical lifespan in the wild is between 30 and 35 years, with little expectation of exceeding 35 years. In captivity, black rhinos can live over 45 years, with the record being 49 years.
Factors that limit lifespan in the wild include poaching for horns and habitat fragmentation. Brooks, ; Grzimek, ; Massicot, Typically, black rhinos are relatively solitary. Males remain solitary until it is time to mate; females reside with their young offspring in a solitary family unit.
There are exceptions, as females without young sometimes associate with other females. The largest black rhino group that has been observed so far has been made up of 13 rhinos, but this was a temporary association. Hillman-Smith and Groves, Black rhinos have a sedentary lifestyle and remain in one general area. They are less active during the middle of the day, using mornings and evenings to eat, drink, and move around.
When they are startled, they tend to run away from the source. While fleeing, rhinos issue a series of snorts and curl their tails until they calm down.
Even though there is severe danger associated with black rhino charges, the charge normally does not end with serious consequences. Hillman-Smith and Groves, ; Massicot, In order to remain cool during especially hot times of the day or season, black rhinos roll in mud to get it all over their bodies.
They also make trips to local salt licks to get needed nutrients necessary for survival. Grzimek, Adult black rhinos defecate on dung piles as a means of communication, as it reveals to other rhinos how recently an individual was in a certain location. Males also use their feces to mark territories; they kicking their feces to get fecal material on their feet, then move around their home range.
They also urinate to mark their home range. When two females meet, they demonstrate little aggression, merely approaching each other and possibly nudging each other with their horns, and then retreating. However, when two males or a male and a female meet, more aggression is exhibited. Upon meeting, a male and female interact in the way described the above.
When two males meet, however, violence can very easily ensue. Many times, the less dominant of the two retreats. If not, the males charge at one another, horn first and groaning loudly. The anterior horn provides the rhinos with a very effective weapon during the interaction. There is large variation in home range size of black rhinos. Depending on region and habitat, home range can range from 2. Habitats with better conditions generally result in smaller home ranges, while poorer conditions result in larger home ranges, presumably because rhinos have to travel further to acquire food and water.
Black rhinos are not excessively territorial within their home ranges, but dominant males are more likely to express territorial behavior against other dominant males than females and males lower down in the hierarchical system. Although black rhinos use vision, acoustic, and smell senses, their sense of smell is what they rely on most.
They have poor vision, with the ability to see only 25 to 30 m away. Their sense of hearing is good, but not up to the level of their sense of smell. Black rhinos use the pheromones and scents from their feces and urine to mark territories. Additionally, they engage in calls to one another that can take the form of the pant-squeal interaction seen in mothers and their infants to loud roars that signify aggression.
When a subordinate male enters the territory of a more dominant male, the combination of calls and territorial scents causes the subordinate male to retreat. Black rhinos are browsers that feed on items such as twigs, woody shrubs, small trees, legumes, and grass.
Black rhinos show a preference for Acacia species, as well as plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. They eat an average of Black rhinos use their characteristic prehensile upper lip to grab plants and guide them into their mouths, where their cheek teeth can do the rest of the work.
In addition, black rhinos use their horns to gain access to higher branches by breaking or knocking down plants. Scraping bark off of trees is also part of the repertoire of black rhino feeding. Grzimek, ; Hillman-Smith and Groves, ; Massicot, Humans, Homo sapiens , are the most important predator of black rhinos; however, both lions Panthera leo and spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta sometimes prey on young rhinos.
Lions also sometimes attack adults. Black rhinos use their size and strength as a defense mechanism by charging at their predators both to threaten predators and actively defend themselves and their offspring. Berger, ; Hillman-Smith and Groves, Black rhinos are significant herbivores and influence plant communities. Black rhinos have the potential to help create awareness for conservation efforts. Play video again. Buy License Upload your video. Next video..
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